A/N: Hello beautiful followers...to my utter disbelief, I now have close to 100 of you! It is about the coolest feeling in the world to know that people out there are reading my story and reacting to it along with me. I love you guys more than I love piggies (and I SERIOUSLY love piggies)

I'm also happy to announce that I have some new TWD fans locally. I've gotten two girls hooked on the show from my school. Last week, my teacher had to leave class early, and one girl popped the DVD into his computer and projected it on the wall so we could all watch…it was seriously epic. My absolute favorite moment EVER was watching their reaction to Herschel's leg being cut off in the season 3 opener…I've never laughed so hard in my life. Can't wait to see their reactions to the Governor/Michonne showdown lol.

30 days people! LLACO!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or its affiliates.

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Ch19.

Carol was alone for the first time in days. It wouldn't have been a bad thing typically, but the acknowledgement that she was in a small, dark room yards away from anyone who could hear her was becoming a little worrisome. Dr. Stevens had left a few minutes before, which meant that Daryl was probably on his way back right now. Carol tried to convince herself that everything would be fine until then, but something inside of her was still uneasy about it. The stillness in the air reminded her of the calm before a storm. She couldn't help but feel that if something were to happen in that moment, it wouldn't end well for her at all.

It wasn't the first time she'd felt this way since the accident, but she'd been keeping it to herself. Usually there was someone else around to take her mind off of it. She was suddenly very grateful that Daryl had been so insistent on sitting with her until she was well again. Unfortunately, he wasn't getting back as quickly as she would've liked him to. Maybe she just needed to get up and walk around a little to calm her nerves. It seemed like a simple enough task, but she hadn't been on her feet in close to a week. Even so, she knew she would need to get up tomorrow in order to go down to the field. Having some practice getting around would definitely be useful right now.

Very slowly, Carol eased her legs over the edge of the cot and pulled herself up to a sitting position. As she bent forward to push herself up, a sharp pain crossed her abdomen and made her gasp out loud. Thank god Daryl hadn't been around to hear it or he would've insisted she stay in the bed. As soon as it subsided, she tried again, this time managing to get all the way up this time while holding the wall for balance. Once she checked that her wound hadn't started bleeding, she slowly trudged her way across the room. As strange as it felt to be back on her feet again, she figured the hardest part was probably behind her.

The clothes she had been wearing during the attack had probably been cut off and discarded, because she couldn't find them anywhere. They had put her in an old dressing gown that someone had found in a cupboard, but it was a little drafty in the back, so she grabbed the sheet from the bed and wrapped it around her like a blanket. Very slowly, she made her way out of the room and down the hall towards the main waiting area. There was a little more light in the hallway than in the rooms, but not much. She eased her way along slowly, hoping that just a few minute on her feet would help to ease her nerves, but just as she got down to the end of the hallway, she saw a shadow coming towards her.

Daryl's boots had a very distinctive sound to them, and this person was practically silent. They were moving fairly slowly as well. Trying to convince herself it was probably just Dr. Stevens coming back down to get something, she moved forward slightly so she could try to get a better view. The shadow was bigger now, and it was carrying something very long and pointed. Last time she checked, Dr. Stevens didn't tend to carry any weapons unless needed. Carol could feel her breathing elevate at the prospect that there might just be someone around the corner that was not supposed to be here. Luckily, before she had to process any danger, a voice called out.

"Carol?"

She nearly fell over in shock as Michonne came walking around the corner; her katana by her side. It was a relief to see her, but also a surprise. Then she noticed that Michonne's arm was bleeding.

"What happened?"

"Knife practice." Michonne rolled her eyes. "I took over until things get settled, but one of the older girls decided it would be more fun to pretend she was Hit Girl and attack me. Great huh?"

Carol sighed. She and Maggie had been handling the knife practice before all of this so that the kids would know how to handle a weapon with respect. Unfortunately, some of the older ones thought that they knew what was best. Michonne was an expert with her sword, so if one of them had managed to injure her, things were probably getting out of control.

"I'm sorry Michonne. We try to teach them better than that."

She shrugged. "Don't worry about it. It's superficial. I'll live."

Carol groaned when pain shot up her side. "I'm not sure I will."

"You all right?"

"Yeah, but I think I need to sit down."

Michonne grabbed a nearby chair and helped her ease down into it. "Why are you out of bed anyway?"

"I just felt restless." She said honestly. "Plus, I need to be able to walk tomorrow so I can go to the funeral."

Michonne looked at her anxiously. "You sure that's a good idea? It takes more than a few days to heal from a wound like that."

"Not you too…" Carol huffed. "I need at least one person to be on my side. Daryl's against it and I know Rick is too even though he won't say it."

Michonne leaned against the counter opposite her. "I'm not saying I'm against it, but if you're in this much pain walking a few feet, think how you'll feel having to walk a few yards."

"It's starting to wane." She breathed a little easier. "I can't stay down here forever. Just sitting alone in there was starting to mess with my head. I felt like I was starting to panic."

"Are you prone to panic attacks?"

Carol sighed. "Sadly yes. I can usually control it, but the small space mixed with the anxiety just got to be too much for me."

Michonne looked pensive. "It's understandable after what you've just been through. I hear you had quite an ordeal down in the tombs before you made it out."

There was a time when Carol would have jumped at the chance to brag about how she handled herself in a battle, but now it just seemed sacrilegious. Her first instinct was to protect Beth's memory. "I don't remember much about it."

"Maybe that's for the best." Michonne said sadly. "Just know that if you decide not to go tomorrow, no one's going to blame you. Herschel and Maggie are both concerned about you getting better and not pushing yourself until you're ready."

"You've talked to them?" Carol was surprised to say the least.

Michonne nodded. "I was there when we buried Beth. They were both worried that you might be going through too much mentally and that their presence might make you feel worse. That's why they haven't come down here."

The admission hit Carol like a ton of bricks. She had thought they had been angry at her for what had happened to Beth, but in reality, they were both concerned for her wellbeing. It was a huge relief.

"I….I can't believe they don't blame me."

"Carol, it was an accident. They know that."

"I just assumed that they'd feel the same way about seeing me." She admitted. "That it would bring up too many bad memories for them."

"It makes sense that you're all feeling bad about what happened." Michonne reasoned. "But in the end, it was Beth's decision to go down there. No one forced her to do that."

"She was trying to prove herself to me." Carol sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I was so wrapped up in my own life that I couldn't see how my actions were affecting hers."

"That doesn't mean that you could've stepped in and changed anything. She was a strong willed girl. There was a good chance she was still going to do it anyway."

"She wasn't always like that." Carol noted. "There was a time when she was ready to kill herself because she couldn't handle the death and destruction in the world. She and I both went through transformations around that time, but I don't think that I was every really able to appreciate that until now."

"We've all been through transformations at some point. No one in this world ever intended doing the things they've had to do to get by, but it's how we go on." Michonne scoffed. "Hell, I haven't always been like this either."

"How were you before?"

"Honestly?" She chuckled. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Carol hated to prod her for more information, but she was genuinely interested. She'd never met another person quite like Michonne, and she knew that were was a lot more to it than she was probably willing to admit. She decided to take another approach.

"When did you first start to notice the change in yourself?"

"After my family died I guess." She said somberly. "I used to work a lot…late hours, weekends…always felt guilty for not being around when they needed me." She paused. "When all this stuff starting going down, I was out of town on a work assignment. As soon as I heard what was happening, I got in my car and drove back. It was a miracle I didn't get myself killed in the process, and it didn't do me any good in the long run either. My town was one of the first to be overrun. By the time I found them…it was too late."

"I'm so sorry."

"The guilt was the worst for me…knowing I should've been there and I wasn't."

Carol shook her head. "If you had been there, you might've ended up dead too."

"I wanted it that way for a long time." Michonne acknowledged. "Every day was a struggle. I just went into survival mode, and eventually I became a recluse. Without anyone else to rely on, I didn't have to think or feel anymore. It made me feel invincible at first, but after a while, I started to lose myself in it too. By the time someone came around worth trusting, I didn't know if I could anymore."

Carol didn't need to ask who she was referring to. "Andrea."

"That woman…" Michonne shook her head. "I was just making my way through the woods when I found her. She had about four walkers on her, trying to fight them off." She sighed. "For a minute, I considered leaving her there to die, but I think something in me was glad to finally find another breathing person. I was still looking for some sign of life out there."

"Andrea saved me before we lost her at the farm." Carol remembered. "We really had no idea she'd made it. I'm glad that if she had to be separated from us, that it was you she found."

"I wish we'd had longer together." Michonne admitted. "It was hard out on the road together, but we were a unit. That all changed the minute he found us…" Her face hardened. "By the time we got to Woodbury, she was pretty bad off…I wasn't in the best shape either, but I knew that we had to get out of there. She just couldn't see it. She wanted so badly to believe that we were safe there…that they were good people…"

"She wasn't the only one who was fooled by his charms." Carol pointed out. "You said so yourself…he's a charismatic man."

"I begged her to come with me, but she chose him instead. That's when I knew that I was on my own again, but by then I had a lot more to worry about too. I had Merle and his crew chasing me through the woods, and then I stumbled onto Maggie and Glenn being taken." Michonne sighed. "As much as we all went through in those first days, I know that meeting this group saved me. I couldn't have kept going on my own like that…not after everything I lost."

As shocked as Carol was by her statement, she knew that she was being sincere. She couldn't prove it, but in a way she thought that maybe Michonne had told her this story in order to make her feel better about her own situation. They'd all be through so much, and the circumstances were always horrible, but in the end they were still human and they still had to rely on each other to get by. The ache in her heart over what had happened to Beth suddenly didn't seem as prominent as it had.

"We should really get that cut cleaned up." She said, figuring that Michonne had probably had enough of sharing. "I think there's some bandages and antibiotic on the other side of the counter."

"I can get them."

"No, I need to do it myself." Carol managed to get out of the chair and walk over without too much pain. "I've worked so hard to give myself the reputation of a warrior, and I don't want anyone to think I'm going soft. Especially you."

Michonne laughed. "As far as I'm concerned, you're a badass through and through."

"Well, thanks."

"Maybe we should get you back to the room though before Daryl comes back."

Carol came back to the counter with the bandages and ointment. "That's probably a good idea. He is going to throw a fit if he knows what I'm up to."

"Sounds like Rick."

Carol finished taping the bandage on her arm. "I know it's none of my business, but…are you and he…"

"We're still figuring that out." She said honestly. "But when I do…you'll be the first to know."

Carol smiled. She missed having women her age to talk to, but something told her that she just might have found an ally in Michonne. She even let her lean on her shoulder as they made their way back down to the room.

"There's one more thing I wanted to ask you."

"Shoot."

"Who exactly is Hit Girl?"

A/N: I hope everyone approves of my Michonne story…it took me forever to figure out how I wanted to make it happen, but I think it made a decent amount of sense. I had initially had this chapter between Carol and Maggie, but I actually moved that around so that it's a little later. I felt like we needed a fresh perspective for Carol from someone she wouldn't necessarily go to for advice. Michonne sort of intimidates Carol…hell I think she intimidates most of us…but seeing a different side to her is something I've been DYING to do, so I'm glad I was able to put it in.

As for the Hit Girl reference…I'd just finished watching "Kick Ass" and I couldn't resist. The older audience of the story won't obviously know who I'm talking about (like my grandmother) but for those of you who do…you're welcome:)